Peter wants an SUV that's easy to park and easygoing on the open-road.

What car should I buy?

Peter wants an SUV that's easy to park and easygoing on the open-road.

What car should I buy?

28 Oct 2015Cameron McGavin

The dilemma

Peter bought a Mazda CX-5 GT in the hope that it would be easy to get into and easy to load and park, with good pampering qualities on the open road, but it hasn't really lived up to his latter two requirements as much as he'd like. He's thinking maybe Subaru's XV or Mitsubishi's ASX might be a better bet.

The budget

About $30,000

The shortlist

Neither the XV nor ASX is a front-runner for comfort or overall glory in the SUV class, so we'd recommend Peter look elsewhere in his search for a replacement for his CX-5.

On paper, the latest breed of light-sized SUVs (i.e. a size down from the compact-sized Mazda, Mitsubishi and Subaru) would give him the easier parking he's looking for. If one were also reasonably easy on the senses on the open road it could just be just the right package.

All things being equal, though, a compact SUV would be even easier on the senses again in that kind of driving, but he'd be sacrificing those manoeuvrability gains.

So Peter needs to think about exactly where his desired sweet spot between urban agility and open-road pampering lies if he wants to drive away in the best car for him. This trio, though, would be a good place to start.

Its five-year/unlimited km warranty is another advantage over the Mazda (and Honda) and turbo-petrol models have the kind of strong, easygoing performance that would suit this dual city/open-road role.

But that drivetrain is a near-$40k deal, diesels are even costlier and non-turbo petrols in this budget range sometimes need a whip-along out of the big smoke.

You need to step right up to the range-topping Highlander (i.e. $40k-plus) to get safety tech like autonomous emergency braking.

But the Captur misses out on head-protecting curtain airbags in the back and safety technology like autonomous emergency braking.

The petrol/auto drivetrain – the obvious choice for Peter as the base petrol/manual is out of its depth on the open road – is hesitant in stop/start driving, still lacks open-road muscle and asks for premium unleaded.

Drive recommends

The Tucson delivers significant comfort gains over a CX-5 and – whisper it quietly – might just be a better compact SUV but it's not really any easier to deal with in tight spaces, which pushes it back to a try-before-you-buy recommendation here.

The Renault also just misses out. It goes closest to hitting our desired size/open-road bullseye and has plenty of other enticements but its safety and driveability issues are big hurdles.

Which leaves the Honda on top, a car that's maybe not quite as pampering as the Captur but lands pretty near the size/open-road bullseye all the same and avoids some of its more serious niggles.